School Days
by gardevoir
Summary: It's never easy being the new girl. AU.
1. Day 1: The New Girl

_Day 1: The New Girl_

It always sucked to be the new kid at a school in the middle of the year.

Not only was everyone already acquainted with each other, but it would be blatantly obvious that you had just arrived. Teachers always either forced you to introduce yourself or they singled you out by saying, "This is so-and-so, they're new." And people would call you "the new kid" for weeks.

Aki wasn't having any of that.

Her parents helped her get her things out of the car, though she didn't really need the help. She may have been staying at a boarding school, but she felt that she didn't need to pack excessively.

She didn't even have that many things to begin with.

Once they were at the main office and her parents checked her in, they hugged her warmly and bid her farewell.

"See you in the summer!"

Sometimes, she swore they chose to do this just to have her out of their hair.

Well, whatever. She'd be back to bother them in six months.

"Good morning!"

She heard a voice behind her and came face to face with a girl with large, circular glasses, long, black hair, and eyes that matched her hair color. "I assume you're the girl who just transferred here?"

She could tell this black-haired girl was a student because she was wearing the school uniform. "Yes. I'm Aki Izayoi."

"Carly Carmine. Nice to meet you." Carly held out a hand and Aki stared at it for a moment before she decided she may as well shake it.

"I offered to be your guide for the day since I was near most of your classes." She didn't want to add that she was the only one that volunteered for the job. It would be rude of her to offend the new girl on the first day.

Not that she knew Aki wouldn't have cared anyway.

"I'll lead you to your room first. You'll be rooming with Sherry LeBlanc and," her tone changed a bit when naming the last two, "Stephanie Geen and Mikage Sagiri."

Aki got the feeling this Carly girl didn't exactly get along with them.

As they walked around the campus to the dorms, she noticed that hardly anyone was out. "Where is everyone?"

"Class doesn't start until 8:30am. We start comparatively later than most schools." Carly shrugged.

Once they reached the girls' dorms, Aki was surprised to see how grand it looked. She knew it was a prestigious school, but she wasn't expecting anything so… elegant.

She got a second shock upon seeing the inside.

Though only her eyes showed any of her surprise, Carly noticed. "It's beautiful, isn't it? It was amazing to me when I first saw it too." She walked to the central grand staircase in the dorm, waving Aki over. "The room you're sharing with them is upstairs. There's a lot of space in each room since it's four people to each one. So you should be fine."

Being a little scatterbrained, she just took notice of the bags and suitcase that Aki had been carrying around.

"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry! Do you want me to carry some of these for you?"

"No, it's fine. They're not all that heavy."

Carly still bowed apologetically to her, continuing on the path once they were at the top.

As she was being led, Aki made sure to take note of where everything was so far. She didn't want to rely on a guide for longer than today.

"Here's your dorm room. Number 547," Carly said, motioning to the door. "And the key." She handed it to her and stepped away from the door, moving further down the hall. "They're probably still sleeping, but I'm not going to take any chances today."

Aki chuckled a little at her action, sticking the key in, opening the door as quietly as she possibly could. The door squeaked just a little, but otherwise, she was home free.

As she peered around her new, temporary home, she saw the empty area and an open mattress on the bunk bed in the corner near the window.

She also saw a pair of green eyes staring at her in return. "I azzume zat'eou aure ze new stoodunt? {I assume that you are the new student?}" This girl had a thick French accent and it took Aki a few seconds to decipher what she said. "Yes."

"Ah, pardon moi {Ah, pardon me}," she said, getting up and grabbing the burgundy-haired girl's shoulders, giving her a standard French greeting: two kisses, one on each cheek.

"I'm sure zat'eou can zee whure'eour zings can go {I am sure that you can see where your things can go}," she then said, while Aki attempted to recover from that traumatizing experience. "Ah, I shood 'elp 'eou with eour bags, oui? {Ah, I should help you with your bags, yes}"

The long-haired blonde grabbed two of Aki's bags and placed them next to the bunk bed. "I 'op eou don' mind sleeping on ze bottom. Mikage shoze ze top bunk a vile ago {I hope you don't mind sleeping on the bottom. Mikage chose the top bunk a while ago}."

After Aki finally defrosted and put her last bag and only suitcase away, the green-eyed girl held out her hand, a more normal greeting this time. "I am Sherry LeBlanc. I 'ope zat I weel be abel to zee eou around campus latear {I hope that I will be able to see you around campus later}."

She shook her hand. "Aki Izayoi. I hope the same." With a small, apologetic nod, she then said, "Sorry, but I have to finish the rest of my tour."

"Mais oui, bien sûr! Go, before eour guide becomes impatian. {But yes, of course! Go, before your guide becomes impatient.}"

She closed the door behind her, raising an eyebrow at nothing in particular; assessing the first impression she got form Sherry.

"Were any of them awake?" Carly asked, walking over to Aki.

"Just Sherry."

"I'm glad you got to meet her first, rather than any of the other two."

"May I ask why you have such a deep hatred for the other two?" She didn't blame her. She herself had a deep hatred for a lot of things.

Being touched for no good reason being one of them.

Carly looked flustered, unsure of how to say this without looking like a complete fool. "Err… we're all rivals. Mikage and Stephanie are rivals against each other as well."

"Rivals of what?"

"It won't be long before you find out, I'm sure," she answered instead, looking down shyly and sounding embarrassed, earning her a sigh from the other female.

'_It's probably something ridiculous if she can't tell me,_' she thought, following the girl with the glasses down the stairs. '_Petty women._'

"There isn't really anything else to show you until the day starts. We can sit by the central fountain. I need to take some pictures for my journalism class there anyway. It's a really lovely area."

With the way this was looking so far, she didn't doubt that.

When they got there, Aki marveled at the beauty of it, her impression further boosted with the fact that there was a ring of grass and flowers around it.

Instead of sitting at the edge of the fountain like any normal person, she sat in the grass, stroking flower petals.

Carly looked at her strangely, but shrugged it off, figuring that everyone had something strange about themselves.

Aki looked up when she heard lively chattering coming from somewhere not too far off.

Within her line of vision, she saw a group of boys walking by, acting chummy with each other.

There was one boy with short, blonde hair, spoke in some places, becoming annoyed when a comment was made, probably about him. He crossed his arms, looking rather regal for a student when he did that. His height increased the image he portrayed.

The other one had bright orange hair, spiked up completely, with the rest held back with a headband. He was the shortest one out of all of them. His attitude, it seemed, was one of childish nature.

The blue-haired boy was about as tall as the regal-looking one. He seemed very interested in one he was saying to the slightly shorter boy next to him.

The last one she observed was taller than the orange-haired one, but shorter than the other two. He had jet black hair with yellow highlights, spiked up kind of like… well…

Crab legs.

She laughed to herself at the thought, glad that they were far away enough that they didn't see her watching them.

They looked like an interesting bunch.

But she wasn't the type that got along well with others.

... - ...

By the time lunch came around, she had told Carly she wanted to eat alone. The news had already spread that she was new and she was cold. The journalist didn't need to have a reputation with a girl that was dubbed the "Black Rose Witch." She had only been here less than twelve hours and they already had a name for her.

Oh joy.

The name came from three things: "Black" for the color they assumed her heart was, since she was so vicious whenever someone tried to approach her, "Rose" coming from the color of her hair {though it was more burgundy than anything}, and "Witch" for the fact that, once the person finally left her alone, she mumbled under her breath, and they thought she was jinxing them all.

"She's casting spells!"

Are all students idiots?

No one bothered to remember her by her real name. Just the one they had given her.

Imbeciles. The whole lot of them.

As she was on her way to lunch, she heard someone call out, "Hey, Izayoi!"

That was a shocker. Someone actually bothered to remember her name?

She turned around at the call and was surprised to see one of the boys she saw earlier.

The orange-haired one.

"Do you have anywhere to sit for lunch?"

She was going to lie, but she decided she didn't need to ruin her reputation any further.

"No," she answered simply. "And how do you know my name?"

"I asked Carly. I saw that she was your guide to getting around the school. Anyway, do you have any money to buy lunch or did you bring your own?"

"Neither."  
"… You're not one of those anorexic girls, are you?"

"No! I just came ill-prepared." This boy was starting to get on her nerves.

"Lucky for you, I have extra cash to spare. But you'll have to pay me back later, alright?" He grinned widely at her.

She had no expression whatsoever.

"I'm Crow, by the way. Crow Hogan. Your first name is Aki, right?"

She liked it better when she was called "Izayoi."

"Call me by my last name, please," she told him, forcing herself to give him a smile.

"Seems I'll have to work my way to a first-name basis with you. I always did enjoy a challenge."

She had half a mind to kill him where he stood.

When they entered the Mess Hall, it was bustling with activity.

There was gossip and chatter all around as people ate, tossing bits of food at each other, sharing food, throwing it away.

And boy, the looks she got when she walked by.

It didn't help that she was walking with someone, a boy, no less.

Oh, the rumors that would spread now.

"Here's where I sit."

Looking down the table, she saw the other three boys she saw earlier, as well as a few other people.

"Ah, ma amie! Eou have decided to seet with us, oui? {Ah, my friend! You have decided to sit with us, yes?}" Sherry got up from where she was sitting and kissed both of her cheeks again in greeting.

She wasn't going to have to get used to that, was she?

"Wait, you know this girl? Isn't she the one the one they call… what was it… 'Black Rose Witch'?"

Asshole.

"Cork it, Aussie boy," Aki hissed, glaring at him. It wasn't until she saw the startled expressions on everyone's faces that she realized she spoke out of line.

She was ready to run away and crawl in a hole and was about to do just that when the black-haired boy from earlier recovered first. He laughed and seconds later, the others joined him.

Except for Aussie boy. He was brooding.

"She stuck it to you good, Jack," he said, sapphire eyes smiling.

"Garçons, garçons! Ze mademoiselle doez not know eour namez! Introduce eourzelvez! {Boys, boys! The madame does not know your names! Introduce yourselves!}" Sherry tutted, mumbling something else in French to herself.

"While you guys do that, I'll go get lunch." Crow waved before he left.

"The one you just told off is Jack Atlas." The sapphire-eyed boy pointed to him.

"He's the 'king', don't mess with him," the blue-haired boy said, causing another round of laughs.

"The one who just make that smart remark is Bruno Borelli." Bruno put his hand up and, without looking away from Aki, the crab head gave him a high-five.

"If you'll look next to Bruno, you'll see Kyosuke Kiryu. His name's strange, so we just call him 'Kalin'." Kalin nodded his head in greeting.

"I'm Yusei Fudo."

If she hadn't met him and no one ever told her his name, she would have just kept thinking of him as "crab head."

She was sure that would have gone down quite well.

"Has Sherry already told you all who I am?"

"Yeah. Aki Izayoi, right?" He held out his hand and she shook it.

He and his friends were a little strange, but she could probably get along with them.

If not all of them, then at least Yusei.

That was doable, right? For her, it would be a struggle.

Crow came back not much later, caring two trays.

"Eating more than you know you can again?" Yusei raised an eyebrow at him.

"No!" he replied a little too quickly to defend himself. "Izayoi didn't bring any money or her own lunch, so I bought some for her." He turned to her now. "Hope you don't mind what I picked." He handed her the tray and she examined what he had gotten.

"Thank you," Aki said with a bow, before she turned away and started to walk off.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa." Crow ran after her and blocked her way. "I brought you to the table so that you could sit _with_ us."

"Mademoiselle, reviens, s'il te plait! {Madame, return, please!}" Aki glanced over her shoulder and saw the French maiden with a saddened expression on her face.

And her eyes also slid over to where Yusei was sitting. '_I'd rather you stay, but if you don't want to, I won't stop you,_' his gemstone eyes seemed to say.

Well, she wasn't going to argue with that.

"Okay, I'll sit with you all."

Crow, thinking he was the one to persuade her to stay, fist-pumped the air. "Glad you changed your mind."

She shook her head and stat down next to Sherry, since she was the only one she felt at least somewhat comfortable sitting next to at the moment.

"Mon amie, je suis heureuse que tu es revenue. {My friend, I am glad that you returned.}" She hugged the witch lightly before she left her alone.

Aki had no idea what Sherry just said, but it made her feel like she was a little welcome.

As she was listening to everyone talk, a chorus of three voices chiming "Jack!" cut through the noise, elongating the 'a'.

She stared at him curiously with her head tilted while the others at the table were looking down, trying their hardest not to crack up.

Jack shot them all a dirty look before he sighed, closing his eyes and putting three fingers up.

Two…

One…

"Jack Atlas!"

His mood worsened.

Aki raised both eyebrows in surprise when she saw Carly, along with Mikage and Stephanie.

'_This must be the rival thing she was talking about earlier._'

But it was over Jack? Seriously?

As they were all approaching him, they shoved each other out of the way, racing to see who could get to him first.

Mikage got there first.

"Good afternoon, Jack!" she said, squeezing herself in between Crow and him.

Carly and Stephanie looked considerably pissed with their arms at their sides and their hands in fists.

The glasses girl was just about to voice something when she spotted the rose. "Oh, Aki! I thought you were going to eat alone?"

"I was, but I was kind of pushed to eat lunch with these guys." She shrugged nonchalantly.

The journalist was about to respond kindly, until she saw Mikage inch closer to Jack.

"Whore!" she screamed, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the seat.

"Manipulative bitch!" Stephanie added, grabbing her hair.

Seconds later, they were viciously attacking each other.

This would be a most interesting year.

Most interesting indeed.


	2. Day 2: Learning the Norms

_Day 2: Learning the Norms_

Apparently it was a daily occurrence for those three girls to fight over Jack.

That explained why no one bothered to pry them apart. No one in the cafeteria did anything else but watch them with blank expressions. When the Headmaster came in, he looked tired, doing one swift motion, causing them to break apart.

"Ah, there's a new face," he said, spotting Aki staring in confusion. "You're the new student, correct? I am Professor Godwin, the headmaster of the school. Sorry I cannot greet you properly." He motioned to Carly, Mikage, and Stephanie. "Come, you three." He shook his head and herded the three girls out of the cafeteria.

Once they were gone, the nose level rose again.

"You should be more appreciative of your fangirls, Jack," Kalin commented, creating snickers all around. "Really, though. They're always fighting for your affection."

"Too bad ze garçon haz none to speare! {Too bad the boy has none to spare!}" Sherry shook her head, tutting. "Eou do not have any izea of how love wurks. Eou aure lucky zat zhey aure too buzy fighting with each othere to notize eour cold indifferance. {You do not have any idea of how love works. You are lucky that they are too busy fighting with each other to notice your cold indifference.}"

Yusei, who was sitting next to Sherry, glanced over at Aki. "I'm sorry you and Sherry have to share a room with two of them. Just ignore them and you should be fine. It's better when they're apart."

She nodded, knowing that for a fact. Carly had seemed like such a sweet, gentle, friendly girl, until she was up against the other two. Then she became ferocious.

Now if only she could do that, instead of being vicious all the time.

But that was nigh impossible.

When lunch was ending, Aki realized that she didn't know where the rest of her classes were, and Carly was with the headmaster. She pulled out her schedule and frowned. None of these classes were in any of the buildings that she'd already been to.

No simple way around this for her.

"Aki, aren't you going?" Crow asked, since he hadn't left yet.

She scowled and reluctantly muttered, "I don't know where I'm supposed to be going." He came over and looked at her schedule, frowning when he saw that he didn't have any classes with her.

But he knew someone who did.

"Yusei!" He called out to the crab head, who was chatting with Sherry as they were walking out of the cafeteria.

"Hm?" He looked over at the two of them curiously, telling Sherry to hold on a moment before walking up to them.

"Aki's guide was Carly, so she doesn't know where she's going anymore. You have the last four classes with her, so do you think you could take her?"

He nodded and motioned for her to follow him. Sherry look rather pleased as well, waiting on the two of them to catch up.

Once they reached an intersection on the sidewalk, Sherry bid them farewell. Now that Aki was alone with Yusei, it was unnervingly quiet.

He cleared his throat and folded his hands behind his head while she contemplated her navel.

"So how are you enjoying the school so far?"

"It's nice."

More silence.

"I heard you've already got a name. 'Black Rose Witch', was it? This school is really good at that." He chuckled and looked her way. "It's funny. They call you that and say that you're cold, but you don't act like that at all. Just shy and uncomfortable."

She looked up and raised an eyebrow at his analysis, startled at how well he was able to read her.

But she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of being right.

"If you're trying to make friends with me, it's not going to work. Friends aren't necessary to get an education, therefore, I'm not looking to make any."

Well, her goal just went to shit.

She just said that because she felt vulnerable. It was her automatic defense measure of hers that she had no control over.

And it had gotten her into many sticky situations before.

"I do agree that you're pretty feisty, though. Rumors aren't completely wrong. The truth is just bent a little." He chuckled.

This guy was wiser than he looked.

Once they got to their class, he let her go through the door first, earning stares from the students who were already in there.

'_I can hear the things they'll say now. 'Whore'. 'Skank'. 'Slut'._' He was the second guy she's been seen with today.

"I would sit next to you, but we already have assigned seats. Well, more like seats we've been sitting in all year and it would be strange to change them now. Just stand here until everyone comes in and choose a seat afterward." Yusei gave her a slight smile before he went to his own seat.

As she waited, each person that came in was given a shock upon seeing her standing there at the front of the room.

'_The witch is in my class.'_

'_Why is_ she_ here?_'

'_Is she here to hex us all?_'

Aki could feel the disdain and the dirty looks she got cut her just a little deeper each time.

But she would not show weakness. Not while she was here.

Once she figured enough people were in the class by now, she chose a seat at random.

"Uhm, excuse me. You're in my seat."

Aki looked around and saw no one.

"Down here!"

Looking down, she saw a girl with teal hair in pigtails, looking rather cross.

"Are you… you're a student here?" She didn't think this girl was near her age. She looked like she was ten, maybe younger than that.

"Yes. My name is Luna. And before you ask, I'm eleven."

The rose got out of the seat and let Luna get her desk back.

The bell rang and the teacher walked in, gazing across the class. "Oh, are you the new student?" They asked, waving her over. "Please introduce yourself."

She muttered swears under her breath as she got up from her new seat and dragged herself back to the front of the classroom.

"I'm Aki Izayoi." '_Not like most of you are going to bother to remember my real name._' She bowed slightly before returning to her desk.

"Short, but I guess that works." The teacher shrugged and started to scribble on the whiteboard.

As she was writing notes on the lecture the teacher was giving, copying the diagrams, the girl in front of her turned around, a nasty look on her face. "So you're the new girl, huh?"

"Yes…" She didn't even bother look up from her paper, having gone through this kind of response before.

"Well, Witch, learn your place."

Aki glanced up then, giving the girl a peculiar stare. "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me loud and clear, girly. Learn your place. You just got here. What makes you think that you can just suddenly start hanging out with Yusei's group on your first day here?"

She glanced over the girl's shoulder, seeing the name on the paper. "Well, _Misty_, I didn't realize you were the boss of who gets to be in what clique."

Another girl sitting next to Misty turned around, glaring daggers at the burgundy-haired girl. "Don't you dare talk to Misty like that. Don't cause trouble on your first day here. You're already walking on eggshells after you sat with them at lunch."

Was there some kind of unwritten rule she should know about?

"Stay away from that group and we'll be fine," Misty said, turning around and brushing her hair over her shoulder.

As if she was going to listen to her.

"Sorry, princess, but they welcomed me into their group. If they want me around, there's nothing I can do about that." She paused. "Aw, is the widdle bitch jeawous becawse she wasn't accepted?" She smirked in triumph.

She was promptly slapped by the stuck-up girl.

Aki had a fistful of her hair in her hand, holding it as tightly and painfully as she could, when both their names were called.

"Misty! Aki! Do you both need a referral? And on your first day, Izayoi?"

Her parents definitely didn't need to hear about this.

She let go of the gray-eyed girl's hair and leaned back in her desk, looking down at her desktop.

All eyes in the classroom were on them. She didn't want to meet any of their stares.

Misty huffed and fixed her hair, giving the teacher a fake smile. "That won't be necessary, sir."

The teacher looked at them skeptically before going back to the lesson.

. . . - . . .

"Aki, what was that earlier?" Yusei jogged after her, sine she fast-walked out of the classroom the minute the bell rang.

He grabbed her arm to stop her and she faced him, quite unhappy at the moment.

"Apparently I'm not supposed to be hanging out with you and your friends. I didn't know that your group was so _exclusive_. I didn't even want to make friends here anyhow. Wherever I go, I can't get along with anyone."

She yanked her arm away from him and huffed, going on her way.

He sighed and put a hand on his forehead, retrieving her before she could escape. "You don't know where your next class is. At least let me take you to the rest of your classes. You don't have to talk to me while we're walking."

"Fine." Aki folded her arms under her chest and looked at him expectantly.

"One second, I'm waiting for a friend of mine." A few seconds later, the little teal-haired girl from earlier showed up, out of breath. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

"I had to go get her." He motioned to the cold rose, who was closing herself off from them. "So why weren't you at lunch today, Luna?"

"I had to help Leo with his homework. He doesn't like doing it until the last minute." She shook her head, disapproving over her brother's nature. "Anyway, does she sit with us now? I've heard about the name they gave her. I didn't think grow-ups become so rude." She shook her head again.

"No, I don't," she answered harshly. "Now can we please get to class," she hissed, eyebrow arched in annoyance.

Yusei and Luna exchanged a look before he shrugged, leading them to their next class.

The next class was Gym.

"The girls' locker room is further down the hall," he told her, pointing in the direction she should follow.

Luna followed behind Aki. When they walked in, the room was filled with the sound of lockers opening and closing, girly gossip, and girls switching out into the appropriate clothing.

"You should probably go to the office. They'll give you something to change into and give you a locker." She pointed to the window not too far away, showing the female gym teachers talking with each other.

She went up to the door and knocked, waiting for them to open it. "New girl, right? Do you need a gym uniform?"

Honestly, why was hardly anyone bothering to remember her name? "Yes and yes. I'm Aki Izayoi."

"Yep, you're the one we were expecting. Here you go." She was handed one dark gray shirt and black basketball shorts. "If you want spare uniforms, you can buy them at the school store."

She nodded. "And what about a locker?"

"Oh, yes…" The teacher went over to a book of records, flipping through it. "We don't have any empty lockers… but Luna doesn't use hers. Her locker number is 2500. Here's the combination." She wrote it down on a sticky pad and handed it to Aki.

"Thank you."

"The class is thirty minutes long. After those thirty minutes, you come back to the locker rooms. You have ten minutes to dress out when you get here and fifteen minutes to change into your uniform when you get back. Fail to dress out and you lose participation points, which affect your grade drastically."

She nodded. "Got it. Thanks." She left the office and went to go find the locker. When she did, she saw Luna sitting on the bench in front of it, not dressed out. She gave the little girl a curious look.

"I'm too young and small to participate in any of the sports. They think I'll get hurt." She shrugged. "Instead of doing activities, I do worksheets and packets about physical education. I like it better this way."

"Interesting," Aki muttered, starting to open the locker. "I'm sharing this with you from now on, by the way."

She was dressed out within two minutes, so she had to wait an extra five until a whistle was blown. "Alright girls, time's up! Time to get out. Your location today is the gymnasium."

They were herded out of the locker room. Luna and Aki were one of the last few to step out.

As all the girls were walking to the gym, they met up with the boys. Instantly, everyone went around finding each other, forming their cliques.

Yusei spotted the two of them and waved them over. Luna squeezed through the crowd to get to him.

Aki, on the other hand, stayed right where she was, following the exodus out of the hall and into the adjoining gym.

He realized that she was doing that "loner" thing again. Instead of joining the class, he waited until just a few people were entering the gym now, Aki being one of them.

"What took you so long? We were waiting for a while."

"Then don't wait for me. You should have gone." She scowled and stepped through the doorway.

Her scowl was soon replaced with a look of amazement. The gym looked pristine and it was absolutely enormous. Several types of games could go on at once in it without one game interfering the other.

At least, that was the impression she got from it.

"Today, we're playing volleyball," one of the male teachers announced, surveying the group. "We need twelve to a group." There were sixty-one students in the class. "Make your own group. Any extra people, find a group that will take you."

"You come near me and I will hurt you," Aki hissed when she saw Yusei approaching her.

He sighed and shook his head, leaving her alone for now.

There we now five groups of twelve, ready to start their games. But, because she had stayed away from everyone and no one dared to approach her, Aki was the only one not in a group.

Some people looked at her with annoyance, muttering about how they didn't want her on their team because she might jinx their chances at winning or how she was holding up everyone by purposely outcasting herself.

One of the teachers sighed, looking at the new girl, then all the groups that were made. "Seems one team is going to have an extra." He waved at Aki, pointing at a group he chose at random.

Well, at least she wasn't with Yusei. She didn't need any more harassment from others today.

But she knew she was going to get some anyway. It was inevitable.

A few of the people in the group that she was assigned to grimaced and wrinkled their nose when she approached, but for the most part, they didn't say anything.

And that was fine by her.

A whistle was blown again to call everyone to attention. "Alright, listen up! This is going to play out like a tournament. Winning teams get to continue on until we have a champion team. One team is going to have to play the first losing team. If that team loses against the losing team, they're out of the tournament. Win, and that team gets to go on."

The teachers then set up the teams going against each other.

Yusei's team was the one that had to sit out and wait.

"So what are you doing trying to help out the Black Rose Witch?" one of the guys on his team asked, elbowing him and jerking his chin at Aki.

"Carly was supposed to be her guide for the whole day, but she got into a scuffle with Mikage and Stephanie again over Jack. And Aki has the same second half classes with me, so I figured I could help her out."

"Who's Ak—wait, you know her name?" The male student looked at him strangely. "You're not actually _friends_ with her, are you?"

"Not definitely, no. She keeps pushing me away." He frowned slightly.

"I got it!" Aki said aloud as the ball was served over the net. She was running to meet it when another girl pushed her away.

"No, _I've_ got it." The girl completely missed the ball when she tried to bump it.

"You shouldn't have been in the way, Witch," she sneered, shooting Aki a dirty look.

Is that how she wanted to play at it? Fine. Bitch was going down.

When the ball was served again, the same girl tried to go for it again.

It was obvious that she was just trying to keep her away from it instead of actually caring about the game itself.

It seemed that, whenever Aki was involved, no one wanted to make it seem like there was anything good about her.

If that was a challenge that they were throwing down, she would be sure to accept it.

Aki promptly shoved the girl out of the way, executing a perfect bump. "_That's_ how you pass the ball back," she told the girl, looking at her with narrow eyes.

The girl had fallen to the floor in a needlessly dramatic fashion, pretending that she was hurt.

"Ow! Ow!" she cried, crocodile tears in her eyes. She held the arm that she had fallen on, cradling it as if it were tender and it pained her to touch it.

Everyone on the opposing team and their team crowded around her in concern.

Oh please. They were really going to fall for that?

Apparently they were because they even got one of the teachers to go out of her way to check on the bimbo.

"Alright, what happened here?" She asked tiredly, a hand on her hip.

"I was," sniffle, "trying to get the ball and," another sniffle, "the new girl over there tackled me to get it instead."

God, this was ridiculous.

"Izayoi, is this true?" The gym teacher looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Err, well, I do admit I moved her out of the way, but I didn't _tackle_ her…"

None of the students were on her side.

"She definitely did it on purpose…"

"She's out to get us all!"

"We can't trust her. May didn't even do anything and she just hurt her like that…"

"Quiet down, everyone," the teacher sighed. "Izayoi, you can just sit out for the remainder of the class. Everyone else, get back to the game. Anyone want to take May to the clinic?"

To further pretend that she was hurt, when someone tried to help her up, May cried out in pain, tears rolling down her cheeks.

If she had to deal with this kind of thing for the rest of the year, Aki didn't know how long she was going to last.

. . . - . . .

Aki stayed in her dorm after the school day was over, even past dinner, for fear of "doing the wrong thing."

People already hated her enough. She didn't want to give them more incentive.

When the curfew for each student to be in their dorms at 9:30pm came around, she looked out the window, seeing the mass of students parting, waiving good buy to each other and going to their appropriate dorm.

When Sherry came in, Aki glanced up, expecting to see Stephanie and Mikage right behind her.

"Zoze two aure at ze garçons' dorm, trying to get Jacque's attenzion, az alvayz. {Those two are at the boys' dorm, trying to get Jack's attention, as always.}" The French maiden shook her head. "Zhey do zhiz every night, so expect zhem to be coming in late. {They do this every night, so expect them to be coming in late.}" She went over to her bunk, climbing to the top and sitting down.

"So I heard zhat eou had quite ze eventful day. {So I heard that you had quite the eventful day.}" She raised an eyebrow at the rose.

"Sorry, but I won't be sitting with you guys at lunch all the time like you probably expected. Apparently you guys are an exclusive group and I can't just waltz my way into it."

"Oh, nonzenze! Don' lizen to ze studun body. I zink eou fet in quite nizely. Ze otherez zink so too. Except Jacque. He iz stell sore about wat eou said at lunch today. {Oh, nonsense! Don't listen to the student body. I think you fit in quite nicely. The others think so too. Except Jack. He is still sore about what you said at lunch today.}" She chuckled a little.

Aki kept herself from smiling. She gave up on her resolve already and she wasn't about to start it up again just like that.

She was about to reply when they heard something hit the window. They exchanged a look. Aki shrugged. They both ignored it.

Until they heard it again.

And again.

And _again_.

"I'll see who it is. It's probably some assholes coming to pick on me some more." She rolled her honey eyes before she got up and went over to the window.

She just barely caught the pebble that was flying towards her face. "Hey, asshole, that almost—!" She cut herself off and raised an eyebrow down at the orange-haired boy looking up at her.

What was his name again? Some kind of bird?

"Isn't it curfew?" She asked, looking back at Sherry exasperatedly. The blond one nodded, then shrugged.

"Why weren't you at dinner?" he shouted up at her.

"I wasn't hungry." Which was a total lie. "Now go away!"

"Yusei was asking for you, you know!"

Was he really?

… Not that she cared or anything.

"Good night," she grumbled, closing the window without bothering to listen to what he was saying now.

"Looks like ma amie haz zomewone zat haz taken an interest in her. {Looks like my friend has someone that has taken an interest in her.}" Sherry smiled.

Aki's lip curled. "I think I like it better when people express their hate for me."

She shook her head and flopped onto her bed.

"'Night."

"Bonne nuit, ma amie. {Good night, my friend.}"


	3. Day 3: Mishaps and Phobias

-quietly updates after an entire year-

* * *

_Day 3: Mishaps and Phobias_

Knocking.

Paused.

More knocking.

Another pause.

_Incessant knocking_.

"Could someone get that?" someone finally asked.

Hearing no movement, Aki sighed, knowing none of the others would do it. '_What is anyone doing up at five in the morning on a weekend?_' she thought as she dragged her feet, forcing herself to the door and leaving herself looking as disheveled as she felt.

In an instant, she was alert, her eyes wide with shock, totally awake.

"Sayer, what the hell are you doing here! ?" she hissed quietly, glancing over her shoulder to make sure they were not paying attention. "Don't you know this is the girls' dorm! ? How did you get in here! ?"

"My apologies, young mistress, but your parents wanted me to give this to you. This is your monthly allowance."

The moment she was handed the check, she quickly stuffed it down her shirt, pushing him out of the doorway. Once she grabbed hold of his shoulders, she turned him around, leading him down the hall. "Have them mail it next time, alright?"

"They didn't trust that the school would give it to you."

"That's a necessary risk they'll have to start taking." She sighed raggedly, using one hand to wipe her face. "If you're going to be here, wait in the main office." As she was pushing him along, they came across a group of girls who were up, adorned in sportswear. '_… Shit, the lacrosse team._'

There was no way of getting out of this one.

The girls ceased their chatting when they saw the head of burgundy pushing along a man that looked just barely too old to be at the boarding school. On top of that, his suit was incredibly out of place.

"Aki, right?" one girl, #27, ventured to ask the black rose, who stopped and winced slightly. "Who is that guy?"

"... No one. He's nothing." She forced a smile at them, mumbling, "C'mon, Sayer, let's go." In her rush to get away, she didn't notice the check slipping out of her tank top and fluttering down to the floor.

"Hey Aki, you dropped—" A different girl, # 16, picked up the check, cutting herself off upon reading what was written. "Oh my god! Two thousand dollars just for allowance! ?"

'_Fuck._'

She quickly ran up to them, plucking the check from #16's hands, the other girls having crowded around her.

"Mistress Aki?"

She sighed heavily, knowing her cover was falling apart. "So you're rich?"

"I'm leaving." She went back to Sayer, continuing to lead him out of the dorm. "Great going, now no one will leave me alone."

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes, there's something wrong! This whole month, only those I bother to talk to approach me, but now _everyone's_ going to come up to me. That's why I said you should have mailed it!" Once they were at the door, she opened it and pushed him out roughly. "Stay in the office next time and have them call for me!"

Upon returning to the room, she could see Sherry waking up, the noise in the hallway pouring in from the opened door. "Bonjour, ma amie," she said in a yawn, sitting up and stretching. "What iz zat commotion out zhere?"  
_Good morning, my friend. What is that commotion out there?_

"I dropped something and they saw it," she muttered, trying to avoid the question so she did not have to reveal herself just yet. '_Maybe I should just trap myself in here all weekend,_' she thought as she flopped back into bed, an arm over her eyes. '_No one can bother me then, right?_'

. - . - .

And that plan worked for all of a few hours.

The news about the check spread like wildfire and the image of the Black Rose changed quickly. She was still the cold, harsh girl everyone knew her as, but now they had a motive to "not dislike" her. All of her worst fears were coming true.

"Hey Aki! Do you want to hang out at the theater? A new movie just came out yesterday! I heard it's really great, do you wanna go see it?"

"No."

"Sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you'd maybe like to—"

"Pass."

"So do you wanna go—"

"I'm comfortable where I'm at."

Surprisingly, even Misty came to her door. "Oh, what's this? I've seemed to have found myself at Izayoi's door. Well, since I'm here, I might as well ask. You're pretty, I'm beautiful; you're rich, I'm rich... what do you say we hang out together? It'll be my treat, to make up for all the times I was... not so nice to you. Doesn't that sound great?"

"Fuck off, Misty. We're never going to be friends and I'm certainly not going to start so that you can golddig off of me."

She heard a scoff and the angry stomping of feet retreating, causing her to smirk to herself. But it was quickly cleared when the next loser tried to convince her to hang out. Why did everyone feel so obliged to come to her? Did they honestly thing that changing their attitude toward her so suddenly would get them in her good graces?

Fat chance.

"Aki, are you—"

"Piss off!" she shouted, absolutely fed up. It was not until after she had lied down and put her face in her pillow that she recognized the voice.

She was up on her feet in a split second, bounding down the hall after him.

"W-wait!" she shouted, grabbing his arm to stop him. Realizing that what she did was very much out of the norm for her, she quickly retracted her hand and looked away, slightly embarrassed. "I didn't know it was you. Sorry." She rubbed the back of her neck. "What was it that you wanted?" she asked nonchalantly, taking her usual defensive pose of folding her arms under her chest.

"Sherry told me that you were holing yourself up in your room because of some sort of incident that happened this morning. And by the looks of it, it's really irritating you." Yusei chuckled lightly, reaching out and patting her shoulder reassuringly. She raised an eyebrow at him and simply brushed off his hand, though mentally, she was rather surprised he even bothered to check on her.

"Instead of sitting in there all day, avoiding people, why don't you come with us today? Everyone else wants you with us and I'm sure it's better than doing nothing on a Saturday." She weighed her option, thinking this over carefully, tapping her chin. "Alright, she concluded. "I'll go. Wait here."

Aki returned wearing jeans and a plain t-shirt, obviously having put a lot of consideration and effort into her outfit. "Well, that works." He shook his head with a small smile. "This way." He motioned for her to follow him. As they walked down the hall, she could feel the predatory glances, the students waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce.

"So what exactly is it that everyone's been bothering you about? Sherry didn't give me the details."

She blinked in surprise at him, her eyes slightly widened. "What, so you mean you don't know? I thought it got around to the entire school by now."

"I'm not one to keep up with gossip." He shrugged, glancing back at her.

"Well this morning, my... butler, I guess you could say, came to our room and delivered my monthly allowance of two grand, and as I was trying to get him to leave, it fell out of my shirt. I didn't notice and one of the lacrosse girls picked it up and saw what was on it. Now everyone wants to be friends with the prissy rich girl." She sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Too bad for them; I was friends with the prissy rich girl first," he teased, making light of the situation. "Don't let it bother you so much. I know they keep coming up to you, but don't even give them the courtesy of getting a response. They'll still think they have a chance to sway you. And rich or not, we're still your friends." He turned to give her a sincere smile.

She could not help but smile back. Seeing it, he grinned before facing forward. When she caught herself, she was quick to change her expression, clearing her throat. "Uhm... thanks," she mumbled.

Sometimes she wondered if she really deserved such kindness.

. - . - .

"I thought we weren't allowed to be off-campus."

"We're not. We're still on school grounds."

"_All the way out here?_"

"Yep."

The place he had taken her to was about a mile from the school building. Way out there was a huge garage, the door of which was open. "Where have you been? We were trying to install a mod, but all it did was mess up the calibration." The expression on Jack's face correlated with the frustration in his tone.

"I got it." She followed behind him, seeing the sports bikes inside. "Is... is this legal?"

"So long as we keep it down and only have a few people here at a time," Yusei explained. She stared at the motorcycles, hearing the engine of one near the end of the line. Counting them, she found that there was one for each of them.

'_How are they getting away with keeping five of these things in here?_'

"I see ze curiozitee in your eyez, ma amie. Godwin iz actooally a very lenien' headmasteur." Sherry waved her over, walking to the first bike in the row. "Zis iz Crow's. We are running some tests on eet. Zhen zere iz Jacques', Yusei's, mine, and Kalin's."  
_I see the curiosity in your eyes, my friend. Godwin is actually a very lenient headmaster. This is Crow's. We are running some tests on it. Then there is Jack's, Yusei's, mine, and Kalin's._

"Are you even allowed to ride them?"

The French maiden merely smirked, her eyes dancing playfully. "Zhat iz somezing you weel have to wait and see! For now, you can just watch zem."  
_That is something you will have to wait and see! For now, you can just watch them._

Against one wall of the garage were a few folding chairs. Grabbing one and sitting down on it, she observed them with interest as they tinkered away at Crow's bike, killing the engine at times, cranking on the accelerator at others. "Alright, let's take it for as spin. It seems functional, but if we don't test it out, it could suddenly shut off again." Yusei shouted over the engine, putting up the kickstand and grabbing one of their testing helmets. Just as he was about to speed off, he glanced over at Aki. "You've been sitting there this whole time. Do you want to come along?"

As lovely as the offer sounded, she and motorcycles did not have the best of histories. She shook her head and put her hand up, forcing a smile. "If it has the potential to stop suddenly, I won't take my chances." Seeing as she had a point, he pulled on the helmet, the protective gear hiding his frown. Though she was right, he had still hoped she would take his offer. Giving the others the thumbs up, they cleared the way for him, watching as he zoomed off.

"Does anyone else know about this?"

"Bruno, who would have been here, but he has to serve detention today," Crow replied.

"Carly, Mikage, and Stephanie. Though I'm sure you could have guessed that." Jack sighed as he leaned against his bike.

"Misty and her friends are aware that there's a garage here, but they don't know about what's inside. We lock up tight," Kalin added, going over to his own bike and wiping it down. "That's one group we definitely can't reveal this to. They'll use it for their parties and we'll lose our privileges." He paused in his cleaning. "I almost got us caught because I used to hang out with them."

"Zhey are onto us, but we weel not be caught!"  
_They are onto us, but we will not be caught!_

She nodded, keeping that in mind. Not that she would ever want to tell that pompous bitch or her croonies.

The ascending sound of an engine's roar signaled Yusei's return. After killing the engine and pulling off his helmet, he tossed the keys to Crow. "All set for tonight." Crow fistpumped the air, pocketing his keys.

"Tonight? What happens tonight?" She had been here a month and this group was still an enigma to her.

"Zat is a sooprize, ma cherie!" Sherry exclaimed, her green eyes shining excitably. "Oh, but you weel have ze time of your life! Just be sure to bring a jacquet. It will be a bit chilly tonight and even colder for... well, you shall see!"  
_That is a surprise, my darling! Oh, but you will have the time of your life! Just be sure to bring a jacket. It will be a bit chilly tonight and even colder for... well, you shall see!_

Aki's hazel eyes slid over to the other four crew members, finding that they were all facing another direction, not meeting her gaze. She was certainly not enjoying the cryptic nature of this event.

Grunting, she scowled at them. "Fine. I'll come tonight. What time?"

"Nine PM sharp," Crow answered. "We're done here, so we have to close up. Remember, try not to let anyone catch you when you walk here."

She nodded, getting up and putting away the chair. "If this ends up being some sort of hazing or cult initiation..." Yusei laughed, shaking his head. "it's nothing like that. Can you find your way back to the school?"

"If the giant buildings off in the distance weren't any indication..."

He always found her cynical replies to be humorous. "I guess we'll see you at nine then."

. - . - .

The black rose showed up right on time, the only change to her clothing being the light jacket she was now wearing. When the garage came into sight completely, she could see the five bikes lined up outside.

"She's here!"

The air was filled with the roar of the engines, growing louder when revved.

She walked up to them, glad that the sound drowned out the three girls that fought over who would ride with Jack, the hot topic of the argument intentionally ignoring them. She saw that Yusei was waving her over and once she was standing next to him, he handed her a helmet, the one from that afternoon. His own had changed; he was now wearing a red one that had a shield stopping just below his eyes and a stretched visor.

"Here. Wear this and get on," he told her. She stared at him for a moment before laughing nervously. "N-No, you guys can go. I'll wait here and keep watch."

"Bruno's already doing that and we want you to come with us, Aki. Please?" The helmet was still in his hands, held out toward her.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes tight. "You don't understand. I really don't like motorbikes."

He frowned. "Well, come along just this once."

"_No_, Yusei."

This back-and-forth argument went on until she'd gotten to her breaking point. "Don't you get it! ? I'm _afraid_ of riding on these things! They're dangerous and I could fall off and so many things could go wrong! I'm not going to ride with you because _I'm fucking terrified of them_!"

Though the engines droned on, a silence befell them.

"Do you trust me?" he asked suddenly.

"That's not the point here. The point is that I'm incredibly scared and—"

"Do you trust me?" he asked again, more insistent this time.

She took a breath before muttering, "Well, I guess I do..."

"Then here."

She reluctantly took it and pulled it on, making sure it was secure. "Get on and hold on tight. Just trust me. I promise you'll be safe."

They exchanged a look before she sighed, obliging. Once she was on, she locked her arms around his waist, her eyes shut tight as she put her head against his back. He looked over at her, shaking his head with a slight smile. Her hold on him tightened when they were off, whimpering quietly and hoping it would end soon.

She calmed down a bit once they had been riding around for a few minutes, though she was still very hesitant to open her eyes. Or move in general, for that matter. But he wasn't going to let her miss out on such beautiful sights. He reached back to tap her waist.

Meaning he had only one hand on the handlebars.

"What are you doing! ? Keep your hands on the bars! I don't want to die!"

"Just look up. It's okay. Look around."

Aki hesitated, slowly lifting her head and opening her eyes just enough to peek.

The breath she had been holding escaped her mouth as she looked around in awe. Though the scenery was a blur, she could feel the nature surrounding her. He looked her way for a moment, making a quick motion for her to lift the shield of her helmet.

She did so and closed her eyes again, but not out of fear. The cool air licked at her face, a sensation she was new to. Opening her eyes again, she looked up and she could see the stars speckling the night sky, the moon softly illuminating the forest around them.

. - . - .

She had completely forgotten there were four other people that had come along, realizing this once they returned to the garage. Now aware that they had probably heard the argument, she became a bit bashful, carefully handing her helmet over to him without making physical contact, now that they were off of the bike.

"Still afraid?" he asked, his grin wide.

"Well... kind of... a little..."

"But you had fun, right?"

She stared off to the side, pretending to have gotten preoccupied with something else... until she actually was. Not too far from where they stood, she thought she'd caught movement, frowning slightly and ready to investigate.

Just before he could press for an answer and she could walk over to check, Sherry ran up to them, putting her arms around Aki. "Ah, ma cherie! Are you okay? If I had known you were afwraid of motercycules, I would have had you ride with me instead!"  
_Ah, my darling! Are you okay? If I had known you were afraid of motorcycles, I would have had you ride with me instead!_

"Y-yes, I'm fine..." she was very unused to being embraced, unsure of how to react. "And it's alright..."

"You should really tell us these things before hand," Jack chided, shaking his head. "he's the most reckless rider out of all of us, with Crow and Kalin close behind. Had you told us, Sherry or I could have—"

"Oh Jack, I'm afraid of motorcycles too! Can I ride with you next time?" Stephanie latched herself onto his arm, fluttering her eyelashes up at him. He gave her a distressed look in return.

"No, I'm more afraid. Let _me_ ride with you next time!" Carly protested, attaching herself to his other arm. The despair on his face he had at this point was grave.

Standing on her toes and wrapping her arms around his neck, Mikage put her chin on his shoulder. "But it's really _me_ you want to take, right? You have to help me get over my fear, Jack."

He looked devastated standing there, silently begging the others to help him. They watched and laughed instead.

"They're your fangirls. There's nothing we can do about it." The head of burgundy shrugged, leading the way into the garage, where Bruno waved to them. Collectively, they walked past him, chatting with each other as they led the bikes into the garage.

ooo

Hiding behind a tree, she stood, watching as the group relaxed in the garage, sharing food, drinks, and conversations. "Ah, so this is what you all are up to. Hm, I think it'd be a little more fun with more people, don't you?"

She laughed to herself, disappearing quietly into the thicket, off to plan.


End file.
